Security News > 2020 > November > Apple to Deliver ‘Privacy Labels’ for Apps, Revealing Data-Sharing Details

After years of complaints about over-permissioned apps that collect, use and share private user information, Apple will be making developer privacy policies more transparent for consumers.

Starting Dec. 8, iOS and macOS developers will be required to provide detailed information about how their apps collect information, which data they collect and what it will be used for, according to an Apple post on its developer support page.

She told Threatpost, "This is an important step on Apple's behalf towards making both the consumer and developer aware of privacy rights and obligations. At first glance, it is a welcome development there are questions around how this self-assessment model will be implemented, and whether the consumer will have the inclination to read it when installing an app. Just as consumers now automatically accept cookies and agree to privacy policies, they may also ignore privacy labels in their rush to download an app."

"This is an important move by Apple to provide more visibility and transparency to what apps are doing on iOS devices, allowing the user to decide what is OK and what is not OK. For too long, developers have gotten away with hiding mass data collections of users' personal data and Apple is now making it visible. I believe it will be great if we can simplify it with a grading system, along with clear risk labels, as you would get on typical consumer products that are bad for your health."

Facebook meanwhile in July said that it had discovered that 5,000 developers received data from app users - long after their access to that data should have expired in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica privacy incident.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/apple-privacy-labels-apps-data-sharing/161081/